Border panel manufacturing machine



March 5, 19 8 A. CASH; m 3,371,630

BORDER PANEL MANUFACTURING MACHINE Filed Feb. 25, 1966 a Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

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JAMES A. CASH,JR.

HIS ATTORNEY March 5, 1968 J. A. CASH, JR 3,371,630

BORDER PANEL MANUFACTURING MACHINE Filed Feb. 25, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JAMES A. CASH,JR.

BY (Mann W HIS ATTORNEY March 5, 1968 J. A. CASH, JR 3,371,630

BORDER PANEL MANUFACTURING MACHINE Filed Feb. 25, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 :3 B W .a FIG.5

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HIS .ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3 371,630 BORDER PANEL MA NUFACTURING MACHINE James A. Cash, Jr., Louisville, Ky., assignor to DRC Corporation, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed Feb. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 530,076 6 Claims. (Cl. 1122) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An improved means for supporting a sewing machine head on an apparatus for manufacturing mattress border panels wherein a border panel fabric assembly is moved longitudinally through the manufacturing apparatus while the sewing machine is moved transversely back and forth over the longitudinal path of the border panel fabric assembly. The sewing machine head frame support comprises a pair of horizontally spaced linkage units cooperatively mounting the head frame on the apparatus base frame for back and forth translational movement along a fiat substantially planar path.

This invention relates to improvements in border panel manufacturing machines.

Mattresses are conventionally enclosed completely within a case or cover comprising: top and bottom face panels; and a border panel extending completely around the perimeter of the mattress with its top and bottom edges sewn to the top and bottom face panels. A typical border panel is compised of an outer decorative cloth or ticking and an inner or backing layer of felt or wadding, usually with a layer of scrim to support the wadding.

One conventional border panel manufacturing machine, which is shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,160,124, comprises:

(A) a base over which the work moves longitudinally forward in a direction proceeding from the rear end toward the front end of the base;

(B) work supply reels at the rear end of the base;

(C) work feed means at the front end of the base for pulling the work from the rear supply reels forwardly over the base in a manner causing the layers forming the work to be assembled one upon the other at the rear end of the base and to pass through a sewing zone between the rear and front ends thereof;

(D) work tensioning means adjacent the rear end of the base yieldably resisting the pull of the work feed means on the ticking so as to tension the work;

(E) a sewing machine mounted on the base for transverse movement back and forth in the sewing zone along a sewing path extending transversely across the work from one margin to the other, said sewing machine including a needle above the work for vertical reciprocation through the work and a cooperating thread locking means below the work;

(F) work clamping means arranged over the work on the rear side of said sewing path for vertical movement downwardly to clamp the work against the base and upwardly to release the work;

(G) means for receiving the work product from the feed means and winding it into a roll; and

(H) drive means for (1) continuously reciprocating the needle and operating the thread locking means in timed relationship therewith for work stitching purposes,

(2) intermittently actuating the feeding means to 3,371,630 Patented Mar. 5, 1968 pull the work longitudinally forward at spaced [feeding intervals,

(3) intermittently moving the sewing machine back and forth in the sewing zone along said work crossing path between feeding intervals with a dwell period at each end of said sewing path corresponding to the next work feeding interval so that said machine operates to make one right-toleft transverse line of stitching during one nonfeed interval, a longitudinal line of stitching along the left margin during the following feed interval, a left-to-right transverse line of stitching during the next non-feed interval and a longitudinal line of stitching along the right margin during the next :feed interval and to repeat this pattern during subsequent intervals and thereby sew a continuous square-cut zigzag line of stitching,

(4) operating said clamping means to clamp the work during each cross sewing interval, and

(5) operating the winding means as the work product is discharged by the feed means.

The principal object of the present invention is to improve the mounting of the sewing machine for said transverse back-and-forth reciprocating motion to the end of making this operation noiseless.

The needle operating and stitch-locking mechanisms of the sewing head are operated from a drive pulley on that head. This pulley is connected to base-mounted drive pulleys through an intervening drive connection which must accommodate said transverse back-and-forth reciprocating movement of the head.

As shown in my US. Patent 2,771,045, this intervening drive connection comprises: a fixed base-mounted pulley-driven rotary drive shaft; a pulley slidably mounted on that shaft and driven thereby; a belt interconnecting the slidable pulley with the sewing head pulley; and means for reciprocating the sewing head on the base frame and the slidable pulley and the head frame drive pulley properly aligned during the sewing operation.

Another important object of this invention is to simplify and thereby improve this intervening drive connection between the sewing head drive pulley and the basemounted drive pulleys.

The noiseless mounting of the sewing head is accomplished by bodily supporting it upon a base-mounted linkage means which operates to carry the head translationally back and forth along a path substantially parallel to the sewing line of the work and which, at the same time, holds the sewing head out of slidable contact with the base frame. More particularly, the base-mounted linkage means comprises: a pair of pivot-ally interconnected links arranged to form an (upwardly) open articulated V-lin-kage which pivotally interconnects the base and head frames to support the head frame on the base frame for back and forth reciprocating movement and guide means for confining the movement of the head frame connection of the V to a horizontal plane.

Preferably, duplicate linkage means are provided at opposite ends of the sewing machine and these cooperate to constrain the sewing machine to move horizontally back and forth along a straight path in a noiseless and vibration-free manner.

The simplification of the driving connection between the base-mounted drive means and the sewing head drive pulley may be accomplished as follows: (1) providing an intermediate driving connection in the form of an endless belt; (2) extending both driving and return runs of said belt between fixed base-mounted pulleys which are horizontally spaced a distance greater than the horizontal movement of the sewing head; (3) providing, between these fixed spaced base-mounted pulleys, a pair of movable head-mounted idler pulleys located along the driving run of the belt; and (4) looping the driving run of the belt upwardly between these idler pulleys and around the sewing head drive pulley so that the driving run turns around one idler pulley at the entrance of the loop and around the other idler pulley at the exit of the loop while the idler pulleys move back and forth along the driving run between the fixed base-mounted pulleys as the head frame reciprocates. This arrangement is simple, inexpensive to make and install and operates effectively in a noiseless and vibration-free manner.

A border panel manufacturing machine embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the machine with the side door open or broken away to show certain drive shafts, drive pulleys and related parts;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation with the front door open or broken away to show the drive motor and wind-up reed drive;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation with the rear doors open, broken away or removed;

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation of the upper end portion of the casing shown in FIG. 4 on a larger scale and with the rear wall completely broken away;

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken along lines 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the sewing head mounting to illustrate how level reciprocating motion is obtained; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the intervening drive connection between the sewing head drive pulley and certain base-mounted drive pulleys.

CONVENTIONAL STRUCTURE The structure illustrated in the drawings conventionally inclcudes:

(A) a base 1 composed of a box-like housing and any suitable form of structural frame enclosed therein; (B) work-supply means mounted on a suitable table preferably spaced rearwardly from the rear end of the base 1, this supply means including rolls 3 and 4 of t strip-like wadding and ticking, respectively, these materials being extended forwardly over the top of the base 1 in superposed relationship;

(C) work-feed means in the form of upper and lower rolls 6 and 7 mounted on the top of the machine adjacent the front end thereof, these rolls functioning to pull the work forwardly through the machine;

(D) work-tensioning means interposed at the rear of the machine between the base 1 and the supply rolls of panel material, the tensioning means being in the form of a suitable zig-zag arrangement of friction bars 9 for the ticking and bars 10 for the scrim when it is to be used under tension;

(E) a sewing machine 12 located on the top of the base between the front and rear ends thereof and adapted for transverse movement back and forth along a straight sewing path, it being understood that the sewing machine 12 has a head frame 12A, a drive pulley 13, a sewing needle which is supported above the work for vertical reciprocation therethrough and a cooperating thread-locking means (not shown) supported below the work;

(F) means for clamping the work along and adjacent the rear side of the transverse sewing zone, this means including a clamping bar 14 extending along and adjacent to the rear side of the transverse sewing zone, a forwardly tiltable tensioning frame 15 for pressing the bar 14 downwardly into its clamping position and a vertically-arranged catn-operated Walking beam (not shown) mounted on the rear side of the base 1 for tilting the frame 15 during non-feed intervals;

(G) work-product-receiving means in the form of a power driven windup reel 17 rotationally mounted on the base 1 with its rotational axis spaced forwardly from the front end thereof; and

(H) drive means which functions (1) to drive the needle and thread-locking means of the sewing head 12 continuously, this means including drive motor 20, motor driven belt 21, belt driven shaft 22 terminating in a fixed base-mounted pulley 23 which is connected to the sewing head drive pulley 13 through an intermediate driving connection,

(2) to drive the work-feed rollers 6 and 7 and the Work-product wind-up reel 17 at intermittent workfeeding intervals spaced by non-feeding intervals, this drive including,

(a) for the rolls 6 and 7, motor, belt and shaft parts 20-22, belt 22A, belt driven speed changer 25, changer driven belt 26, drive shaft 27 of a gear reducer (not shown), reducerdriven cam 28, cam-operated bell crank 29, and crank-driven arm 30 for the ratchet drive of the feed rolls, and,

(b) for the wind-up reel 17, parts 20-22, belt 22A, parts 25-26, reducer drive shaft 27, reducer-driven pulley 28A, pulley-driven V- belt 31 driving the rear end of a forwardly extending shaft not shown, the front end of which is geared at 32 to wind-up reel 17, the slippage of V-belt 31 controlling the nonrotating intervals of the reel, and

(3) to actuate the work-clamping means in the work-clamping direction and horizontally move the sewing machine 12 one transverse stroke during each non-feeding interval, this drive including (a) for the work-clamping means, parts 2022, belt 22A, parts 25-26, reducer drive shaft 27, reducendriven cam 34 and a base-mounted pivotal lever (not shown) interconnecting cam 34 With the tilt frame 15, and (b) for reciprocating the head frame, the same parts from motor 20 through cam 34, cam-operated bell crank 35 and adjusting link 36 interconnecting crank 35 with head frame reciprocating lever 37. The head frame reciprocating lever 37 is pivotally mounted at its lower end upon the base with its upper end connected to one end of head frame 12A through an interposed link 38, which is best shown in FIG. 4.

OPERATION The machine is first loaded by mounting a roll of scrim, if used, a roll of wadding 3 and one of ticking 4 on the table, directing the scrim around the rods 10 and thence over the top of the base through the sewing zone (with the needle in its uppermost position) and between the feed rollers 67 with the upper feed roll in its upper inoperative position, similarly directing the wadding 3 except that it bypasses the tensioning rods, and training the ticking 4 first around one or more of the work tensioning rods 9 and thence over the base through the sewing zone and between the work feed rolls. Now the rolls are lowered and the drive motor started. Thereafter the machine will operate automatically in conventional fashion. Of course, the work product should be directed to and wound upon reel 17.

During a non-feed interval, the border machine operates to clamp the work against the base 1 along the rear side of the sewing zone and to move the continuously stitching sewing machine 12 one stroke so as to sew one stitch line across the work. This completes the non-feeding interval; hence, the work is unclamped and a feeding interval instituted. During the feeding interval, the feed rolls 6-7 rotate to pull the work forwardly against the drag of the work tensioning means while the sewing machine 12 will sew one longitudinal stitch line along one margin of the moving work and continue to do so as long as the work moves forwardly.

At the end of this feeding interval, the work feed rolls 6-7 stop, the work is once again clamped and the continuously operating sewing machine 12 is now moved through its return stroke during which it again sews one transverse line of stitching. When the sewing machine reaches the end of that return stroke, the non-feed interval terminates and the next feed interval begins during which the parts operate as before to saw the wadding and ticking together along another longitudinal seam. This type of operation continues automatically until the supplies of wadding and ticking are exhausted.

INVENTIVE STRUCTURE Head frame mounting Now, in accordance with my invention, I mount the head frame 12A upon the base 1 through an interposed linkage means which is pivotally connected to both head and base frames and which is operative to support the head frame bodily on the base frame for back and forth translational movement along a path substantially parallel to the desired sewing line and which substantially holds the head frame out of slidable contact with the base frame during such movement.

In my presently preferred embodiment, this linkage means preferably includes a pair of horizontally-spaced duplicate linkage unit or arrangements, one for each end of the head frame, each presently preferred arangement compises: (A) an upwardly open articulated V-linkage pivotally interconnecting the base and head frames to support the head frame on the base frame for back and forth reciprocating movement; and (B) guide means for confining the movement of the connection between the head frame and the V-linkage to a horizontal plane.

The interconnected V-linkage includes: a fixed base frame pivot 50; a base link 51 having base and apex ends and depending from fixed pivot 50; a floating apex pivot 52 at the lower or apex end of the base link 51; an upright head link 53A having apex and head ends with its lower or apex end pivotally connected to the lower or apex end of the depending base link 51 through apex pivot 52; and a fixed head frame pivot 54 pivotally connecting the upper head end of the upright head link 53A to a fixed pivot point on one end of the head frame 12A.

In the presently preferred arrangement, the guide means comprises: (A) a link 53B equal in length to the length of upright head link 53A and forming an integral downward extension thereof; and (B) means for confining the movement of the lower end of link 533 to a vertical path, this means specifically including a guide pivot 55 at the lower end of link 53B, a horizontal guide link 56 having one end pivotally connected to the lower end of link 53B through guide pivot 55 and a base pivot 57 pivotally mounting the other end of guide link 56 on base frame 1.-

With the foregoing arrangement, each time lever 37 is moved angularly in one direction to push or pull the sewing head frame 12A through one stroke in the corresponding direction, each head pivot 54 of the V will be constrained to move in a horizontal level plane. This can be best shown by referring to FIG. 7 which shows, in solid lines, the starting position of the following interconnected V and guide means parts, viz: fixed base pivot 50, base-mounted link 51, floating apex pivot 52, upright head link 53A, and head frame pivot 54; and link 53B and its lower end pivot 55.

During the 1st 15% of the stroke, the head frame pivot 54 will tend to swing arcuately upward about the floating apex pivot 52 and thus tend to rise in elevation. However, during that same movement, the floating apex pivot 52 will swing downwardly about fixed base pivot to the position indicated at 52 and thereby keep the movement of pivot 54 in its horizontal starting plane as indicated at 54'. The lowering of pivot 52 will also lower guide pivot along a substantially vertical line to the position indicated at 55. Obviously pivot 55 moves arcuately downward about pivot point 57 but the horizontal component of that movement is normally so slight as to be negligible.

This same action will occur during each additional increment of stroke movement. As a consequence, pivots 52, 54 and 55 will not only reach the positions indicated at 52", 54" and 55" when 40% of the indicated stroke movement has been completed but also reach the position indicated at 52", 54" and 55" when the stroke movement has been completed.

The V linkage has been illustrated and explained as an upwardly open V merely for the sake of clarity. Obviously that linkage can be designed to open downwardly, horizontally or otherwise.

By making the levers 51, 53A and 53B all equal in length, the movement of head pivot 54 can be confined to a horizontal plane when the movement of guide pivot 55 is more or less confined to a vertical plane. However, it will be appreciated that the same result can be obtained by guiding some point fixed on links 53A or 53B (or fixedly connected thereto) along that predetermined path which is required to confine the movement of pivot 54 to the horizontal starting plane. Thus, in FIG. 7, if fixed point of link 53A is guided along path 61, then the movement of pivot 54 will be confined to the horizontal starting plane. The same is true when fixed point 62 on link 53B is guided along path 63.

Intermediate drive connection for sewing head As previously noted, the means for continuously driving the needle and thread-locking means of the sewing head 12 includes: drive motor 20, motor-driven belt 21 and belt-driven shaft 22 of a fixed drive train which terminates in a fixed base-mounted pulley 23; and an intermediate driving connection which extend from fixed base-mounted pulley 23 and which connects that fixed pulley with the sewing machine drive pulley 13. For the sake of clarity, the fixed base-mounted pulley 23 and the head mounted sewing machine drive pulley 13 are hereinafter referred to as the first and last pulleys respectively. Since the last pulley is mounted to drive the sewing machine head while moving horizontally back and forth with it, the intermediate driving connection between the first and last pulleys must be (and heretofore has been) fashioned to accommodate the stroke motion of the head.

In further accordance with my invention, this intermediate driving connection is simplified to comprise: (A) an endless belt for interconnecting the first and last pulleys 23 and 13 to provide drive and return runs 70A and 70B therebetween; and (B) a head-mounted beltdirecting means located below the last pulley 13 for horizontal reciprocating movement with the head and arranged to maintain that portion of the belt 70, which engages and extends adjacent to both ends of the last pulley 13, in the form of a vertically-extending downwardly-open loop which travels with the head 12 through the length of each stroke.

The means providing the belt 70 with the travelling loop comprises a pair of idler pulleys 71A and 71B located below the last pulley 13 and mounted on the head frame 12A for horizontal stroke movement therewith. Furthermore, idler pulley 71A is positioned at the entrance of the loop to receive the horizontally travelling section of the driving run 70A coming from the first pulley 23 and to discharge it vertically upward to one side of the last pulley 13 while idler pulley 71B is positioned at the exit of the loop to receive a vertically travelling section of the return run 7013 coming down from the other side of the last pulley 13 and to discharge it horizontally.

In order to accommodate the back and forth movement of the loop of the belt 70, base-mounted pulleys must be mounted on each side of the loop-forming assembly of head-mounted pulleys and spaced from each other a distance greater than the maximum stroke of the reciprocating movement. Accordingly, pulleys 73A and 74 are mounted on the driving side and return side of the loopforming assembly of head-mounted pulleys 71A and 71B and spaced from each other a distance greater than the maximum stroke of the sewing head 12 which, of course, determines the maximum horizontal reciprocation of the loop.

Since the first pulley 23 is vertically arranged for rotation about a horizontal axis, that portion of the belt 70, which engages and extends adjacent to both of its sides, is in the form of a vertically extending downwardly open loop, while the connecting portions of the drive and return runs extend horizontal; hence it is necessary to provide appropriate base-mounted belt-directing means. Ac-' cordingly, a fixed belt-directing means is (1) located below the first pulley 23, (2) mounted on the base and (3) arranged (a) through one belt-turning member (in the form of said idler pulley 73A) to receive the vertically travelling section of the drive run 70A coming down from one side of the first pulley 23 and to discharge it horizontally toward the head-mounted idler pulley 71A and (b) through another belt turning member (in the form of an idler pulley 73B) to receive the horizontally returning section of the return run 70B and to discharge it upwardly to the other side of the first pulley 23.

A belt driving arrangement equivalent to the one provided by pulleys 23, 73A and 73B, may be formed simply by mounting pulley 23 for rotation about a vertical axis so that belt runs 70A and 70B extend horizontally from pulley 23.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an apparatus for manufacturing mattress border panels wherein a border panel fabric assembly is moved longitudinally through the apparatus while a sewing machine is intermittently moved over the longitudinal path of the border panel assembly first in one transverse direction along a fixed sewing line, and then in the opposite transverse direction along said fixed sewing line, an improved means for supporting the sewing machine head frame on the apparatus base frame for such intermittent back-and-forth movement and for guiding said head frame in such movement, comprising:

(A) a pair of horizontally-spaced mounting units for cooperatively mounting a head frame on a base frame for back and forth translational movement along a fiat substantially planar path, which is substantially parallel to said fixed sewing line,

(1) one of said mounting units including (a) a V linkage composed of a base link having base and apex ends, a head link having apex and head ends, and means pivotally connecting their apex ends together,

(b) means pivotally mounting the base link at its base end on said base frame for back and forth pivotal movement toward and away from said flat path,

(c) means mounting the head frame on the V linkage, including means pivoting the head end of the head link to the head frame at a fixed pivot point thereon for translational movement therewith, and

(d) base-frame mounted guide means connected to guide the fixed pivot point at the head end of the head link along a fixed path, corresponding to said flat path, during said back and forth translational movement, said guide means operating to turn the head link angularly about its apex end pivot in back and forth directions opposite to those which the base link makes contemporaneously about its base end pivot.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein:

(A) said base and head links depend from their respective base end and head end pivots; and

(B) said guide means include:

(1) an integral downward extension of said head link, and

(2) a connection to the lower end of said downward extension for said guiding purposes.

3. The improvement of claim 2 wherein:

(A) said one mounting unit provides a mounting for one end portion of said head frame; and

(B) said mounting means includes a substantially identical mounting unit for the opposite end portion of said head frame.

4. The improvement of claim 2 wherein:

(A) the pivot-to-pivot length of said base link and head link are substantially equal; and

(B) said base-mounted guide means includes a basemounted horizontal guide link pivotally connected to saiddownward extension at a point spaced from said floating pivot a distance substantially equal to the pivot-to-pivot length of said head link.

5. In an apparatus for manufacturing mattress border panels wherein a border panel assembly is moved longitudinally through the apparatus while a sewing machine is intermittently reciprocated through back and forth strokes extending across the longitudinal path of that as sembly, an improved intermediate drive means for operatively connecting a first motorized drive pulley mounted on the base of the apparatus with a last drive pulley mounted on the sewing head to drive the head while moving back and forth with it, comprising:

(A) an endless belt for interconnecting the first and last pulleys to provide drive and return runs therebetween; and

(B) belt directing means mounted on the sewing head for horizontal reciprocating movement therewith and arranged below the last pulley to maintain that portion of the belt, which is on and adjacent to the last pulley, in the form of a vertically-extending downwardly-open loop which travels back and forth with the head throughout the length of each stroke,

(1) said belt directing means including (a) one belt-turning member mounted on the head to receive a horizontally-approaching section of the drive run coming from the first pulley and to discharge it upwardly to one side of the last pulley so as to form therebetween one side of said downwardlyopen loop, and

(b) another belt-turning head-mounted member spaced from one member and arranged to receive a vertically approaching section of the return run of the belt coming from the other side of the last pulley to form therebetween the other side of said downwardly-open loop and to discharge it horizontally.

6. The intermediate drive means of claim 5 including:

(A) a pair of first and second belt-turning basemounted members (1) spaced from each other a distance greater than the maximum stroke of said sewing head, and

(2) spaced from opposite sides of said assembly of head-mounted members,

(a) said first belt-turning base-mounted member being arranged to direct the drive run horizontally toward said one head-mounted member, and

(b) said second belt-turning base-mounted member being arranged to receive a hori- 9 l0 zontally traveling section of the return run 2,771,045 11/1956 Cash 112-2 from said other head-mounted member. 2,791,344 5/ 1957 Kalning et a1 1122 X 3,160,124 12/1964 Cash 112-2 References 3,224,394 12/1965 Dohner et a1. 112-2 X UNITED STATES PATENTS 813,908 2/ 1906 Miller 112-203 X HERBERT F. ROSS, Primary Examiner. 2,318,686 5/1943 Hathaway 112-2 

